Experiments with scale models of oil collectors for subsea well blowouts

Laboratory experiments on conically shaped oil collectors beneath a marine riser are described. The collection concept involves oil, water and gas entering the collector and being driven into a separating sytem by gas-lift. A parametric study involving various collector shapes, heights above the wellhead, and gas, oil and water flow rates was carried out. The important dimensionless variables were identified and quantified with the conclusion that effective collection is possible if the collector height is sufficiently small and the ratio of water pumped to gas flow is sufficiently large. Increased collector heights can be accommodated at the expense of requiring increased water flows by use of larger diameter risers. The amount of gas required for most efficient oil collection is found to be much less than is expected to come from most blowouts when a single collector and riser system is used. This difficulty can be greatly diminished by the use of a specially designed gas-separating collector which passes most of the gas to the surface through a riser separate from the one which carries the liquids.